The Space Between The Logs

“Jesus said to them 'Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest for a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:31)

I don't know about you, but even in the midst of our social distancing isolation, the last week or so has seemed quite frantic and hectic in my world.  Like many of you, I've had what seems like virtual meeting after virtual meeting, an overload of emails to answer and respond to, phone calls to make, and all while doing my usual sermon preparation and ministry work.  The crisis we're in has caused many of us to feel overwhelmed and on edge because we are so busy and overworked, even in a virtual world (perhaps because of it!) 

Yet, as the short scripture above reminds us (and also think about the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42), we can often become so busy doing "good things" (even church things) that we forget to take time out occasionally to be spiritually "fed," and consequently find ourselves stressed and under intense pressure. 

So, one thing that we are all in need of even in the midst of this crisis is the need for at least a little bit of sabbath rest -- time away from our work (whatever that work is) and have time for ourselves, time to be with our families, and time to be with God.  Author Judy Brown reminds of this need in an excerpt from one of her books: 

“What makes a fire burn

is space between the logs,

a breathing space.

Too much of a good thing,

too many logs

packed in too tight

can douse the flames

almost as surely

as a pail of water would.

So building fires

requires attention

to the spaces in between,

as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build

open spaces

in the same way

we have learned

to pile on the logs,

then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fuel

together, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a log

lightly from time to time.

A fire grows

simply because the space is there,

with openings

in which the flame

that knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.”

[--Poem “Fire,” by Judy Brown in Leading From Within, by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner, eds.]

None of us will be able to be at our best for others if we don't take at least a little time and space for ourselves and our families and with God. This is akin to what we sometimes hear on a plane flight, where they tell us that "in case of emergency, put on your own mask first before trying to put someone else's on."

We are certainly in unprecedented times, and to get through at least last week it may have required some of us to work what feels like 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But over the next few days and weeks, I want to encourage and invite us all NOT to allow those patterns to become a new routine. If we do, we risk starving our souls of the oxygen of God's presence that we all need, or becoming too much like Martha and not enough like Mary. God bless you as you trust in Him! And always remember that God loves you and I do, too!